Adventist Interchurch Relations


Book Description

This study presents the first comprehensive analysis of Seventhday Adventist interchurch relations – a 20-million member body whose ecumenical stance has so far been underresearched. For the sake of interpreting denominational involvement and reservations in Adventism as well as beyond, the study develops a new academic approach to ecumenism based on Relational Models Theory, a comprehensive social science paradigm of interpreting human relationships. The resulting typology of ecumenical interactions and the historical case study of Adventism suggest that such a relational interpretation of ecumenical interaction sheds light on many of the unresolved issues in ecumenics – such as divergent concepts of unity, difficulties in recognition processes, and the permanence of denominationalism.




Interchurch and Interfaith Relations


Book Description

A comprehensive collection of Seventh-day Adventist texts and statements on interchurch and interfaith relations. With more than 16 million baptized members and about 30 million adherents in total today, this church is a global Christian movement. It attempts to document a phenomenon found in other less ecumenically inclined denominations as well.




Inter-church Relations


Book Description

Essays on relations between Christian churches in Ireland, set against the backdrop of international ecumenism.




From Adam and Israel to the Church


Book Description

This ESBT volume addresses core questions about spiritual identity, examining the nature of the people of God from Genesis to Revelation through the lens of being created and formed in God's image. Benjamin Gladd argues that living out God's image means serving as prophets, priests, and kings, and he explains how God's people function in these roles throughout Scripture.




The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary


Book Description

"From 1983 to 1990 the Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States of America discussed the topic 'The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary.' This, the eighth round of theological dialogue, has tested the doctrinal implications of the fundamental affirmation and material convergences of the seventh round, the topic of which was 'Justification by Faith'. . . . In testing the rule contained in the common christological affirmation of the seventh round, the dialogue has made an earnest search for further areas of convergence. . . ." "We now submit this document to the authorities, theologians, pastors, and people of our supporting churches for their reflection and judgment. We await their reaction to our findings and recommendations toward unity." -from the Preface by J. Francis Stafford and H. George Anderson J. Francis Stafford is the archbishop of Denver and the Catholic Co-chairman of the dialogue. H. George Anderson is the president of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, and served as the Lutheran Co-chairman of the eighth round of the dialogue. Joseph A. Burgess is a Lutheran member of the dialogue.




Toward Our Mutual Flourishing


Book Description

In Toward Our Mutual Flourishing: The Episcopal Church, Interreligious Relations, and Theologies of Religious Manyness, the author tells the story of The Episcopal Church's development of an official rationale for its ongoing engagement with religious diversity. At once a work of historical, moral, and practical theology, this volume contextualizes and explains what one church teaches about how religious difference may be interpreted in Christian terms. Through guided reading of noteworthy documents, this book explores such themes as this church's preference for ecumenical interfaith work, its particular attention to Christian-Jewish and Christian-Muslim concerns, the relationship between missiology and theological understanding of religious diversity, and the intersection of interreligious relations with other ecclesial concerns - peace and justice activism, liturgical reform efforts, and what it means to be «the Body of Christ» in the twenty-first century. The author thus positions this multinational, multicultural, multilingual denomination within the Interfaith Movement, the Anglican theological tradition, and the various schemes for analyzing Christian theologies of religions. About The Episcopal Church (but not just for Episcopalians), about Christianity (but not just for Christians), this book is an excellent resource for courses in interreligious dialogue, Christian ethics, and American religious history.




Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism


Book Description

In this book Eric W. Gritsch, a Lutheran and a distinguished Luther scholar, faces the glaring ugliness of Martin Luther's anti- Semitism head-on, describing Luther's journey from initial attempts to proselytize Jews to an appallingly racist position, which he apparently held until his death. Comprehensively laying out the textual evidence for Luther's virulent anti-Semitism, Gritsch traces the development of Luther's thinking in relation to his experiences, external influences, and theological convictions. Revealing greater impending danger with each step, Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism marches steadily onward until the full extent of Luther's racism becomes apparent. Gritsch's unflinching analysis also describes the impact of Luther's egregious words on subsequent generations and places Luther within Europe's long history of anti-Semitism. Throughout, however, Gritsch resists the temptation either to demonize or to exonerate Luther. Rather, readers will recognize Luther's mistakes as links in a chain that pulled him further and further away from an attitude of respect for Jews as the biblical people of God. Gritsch depicts Luther as a famous example of the intensive struggle with the enduring question of Christian-Jewish relations. It is a great historical tragedy that Luther, of all people, fell victim to anti-Semitism -- albeit against his better judgment.




The Gospel in the Stars


Book Description




Declaration on the Way


Book Description

"The document ... is a declaration of the consensus achieved by Lutherans and Catholics on the topics of church, ministry, and eucharist as the result of ecumenical dialogue between the two communions since 1965. It is a consensus 'on the way, ' because dialogue has not yet resolved all the church-dividing differences on these topics."--Preface.




The Manual of Inter-church Work


Book Description